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Rae joins leadership race

OTTAWA–Annoyed at rumours he had been telling friends he might not go for it, Bob Rae confirmed yesterday he would try again to lead the Liberals.

"It does not speak well of the world that this kind of stuff would be spread around," Rae, 60, said yesterday about a newspaper report claiming he had been confiding in close friends he was hesitant to run. "It's completely false. I don't think one should confuse a sense of decency with any hesitation on my part."

The former Ontario NDP premier and current Liberal MP for Toronto Centre said he informed outgoing Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion yesterday he would be running to replace him. He also gave up his duties as foreign affairs critic.

Rae said he would wait to officially launch his campaign until after the party executive meets next weekend to set a date and time for the leadership convention.

"Frankly I wouldn't be announcing these things in stages if it hadn't been for the silly rumours," he said.

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The rumour appeared in a story about three key party organizers joining the leadership camp of deputy leader Michael Ignatieff.

Rae and Ignatieff were college roommates but their relations were strained when they were both front-runners in the 2006 Liberal leadership race.

Rae said former Ontario Liberal party president Greg Sorbara – the chief architect of Premier Dalton McGuinty's back-to-back majorities – is on board his campaign.

"He's a great friend and he's a great politician," Rae said of Sorbara, the Vaughan-King-Aurora MPP and former finance minister who was instrumental in wooing Rae to the federal Liberals and to run for the leadership the last time around.

Sorbara has also spoken highly of Rae as someone who can rebuild the troubled party after a devastating loss of seats in the Oct. 14 election. "The question is not about whether you would make a good prime minister, the question is do you have the energy, resources, imagination and talent to rebuild a political party that is on the mat. I don't see Michael having it. I think Bob does," Sorbara told the Toronto Star this week.

Ontario Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman has also committed his support to Rae, as he did in 2006.

"I think the (federal) Liberal Party can ill afford" to pick someone without the kind of political experience that Rae has, Smitherman told the Star. "Now is not the time for on-the-job training."

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Smitherman brushed aside criticism of Rae's time as Ontario NDP premier, recalling it was tough economic times in the early '90s and despite that he made the best of the hand he was dealt.

Meanwhile, a Toronto Star/Angus Reid poll released today shows the most popular leadership contender is one who has already announced he would not run. Former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna, who confirmed this week he would not enter the race, was viewed favourably by 34 per cent of respondents and unfavourably by 22 per cent, which gave him a "favourability" score of +12.

Former Liberal finance minister John Manley, who has said he is considering a bid but has not made up his mind, was viewed favourably by 30 per cent and unfavourably by 30 per cent, giving him a neutral score. Ignatieff was viewed favourably by 30 per cent and unfavourably by 34 per cent, which gave him a favourability score of —4. Rae was viewed favourably by 30 per cent and unfavourably by 44 per cent, which gave him a score of —14.

New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc, the only other person who has confirmed his intention to run, scored —10, with 9 per cent of respondents holding a favourable view of him and 19 per cent viewing him unfavourably.

The online survey polled a randomly selected national sample of 1,006 adults from Oct. 28 to Oct. 29 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

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